The German East-West Divide in Knowledge Production: An Application to Nanomaterial Patenting

Journal of Economic and Social Geography (Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie), Vol. 101, No. 5, 2010

23 Pages Posted: 22 Sep 2010 Last revised: 10 May 2013

See all articles by Roberto Patuelli

Roberto Patuelli

University of Bologna - Department of Economics

Andrea Vaona

University of Verona - Department of Economics; Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Christoph Grimpe

ZEW Centre for European Economic Research; Copenhagen Business School - Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics

Date Written: November 25, 2010

Abstract

Research and development (R&D) in the field of nanomaterials is expected to be a major driver of innovation and economic growth. Consequently, it is of great interest to understand which factors facilitate the creation of new technological knowledge. The existing literature has typically addressed this question by employing a knowledge production function based on firm, regional - or even country-level data. Estimating the effects for the entire national system of innovation, however, assumes poolability of regional data. We apply our reasoning to Germany, which has well-known regional disparities, in particular between the East and the West. Based on analyses at the NUTS-3 regional level, we find different knowledge production functions for the East and the West. Moreover, we investigate how our results are affected by the adoption of alternative aggregation levels. Overall, our findings suggest that a careful evaluation of poolability and aggregation is required before estimating knowledge production functions at the regional level.

Keywords: nanomaterials, patents, poolability, Germany, spatial autocorrelation

JEL Classification: C21, L60, O32, R11, R12

Suggested Citation

Patuelli, Roberto and Vaona, Andrea and Grimpe, Christoph and Grimpe, Christoph, The German East-West Divide in Knowledge Production: An Application to Nanomaterial Patenting (November 25, 2010). Journal of Economic and Social Geography (Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie), Vol. 101, No. 5, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1679946

Roberto Patuelli (Contact Author)

University of Bologna - Department of Economics ( email )

via Anghera' 22
Rimini, 47921
Italy
+39-0541-434276 (Phone)
+39-02-700419665 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/patuellihomepage/

Andrea Vaona

University of Verona - Department of Economics ( email )

via dell'Artigliere, 19
I-37129 Verona
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://dse.univr.it/vaona

Kiel Institute for the World Economy ( email )

P.O. Box 4309
Kiel, Schleswig-Hosltein D-24100
Germany

Christoph Grimpe

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics ( email )

Kilevej 14A
Frederiksberg, 2000
Denmark
+45-3815-2530 (Phone)

ZEW Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
Mannheim, 68034
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.zew.de

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